Elon Musk Might Break Twitter. Maybe That's a Good Thing.
b'If Elon Musk\\u2019s bid to purchase Twitter comes to fruition, the world\\u2019s richest person will own one of its most important communications platforms. Twitter might have a smaller user base than Facebook, Instagram and even Snapchat, but it shapes the dominant narratives in key industries like politics, media, finance and technology more than any other platform. Attention \\u2014 particularly that of elite leaders in these industries \\u2014 is a valuable resource, one that Twitter manages and trades in.\\n\\nMusk understands Twitter\\u2019s attention economy better than anyone. On numerous occasions, his tweets have sent a company\\u2019s stock or a cryptocurrency\\u2019s value skyrocketing (or plummeting). So what would it mean for Musk to own Twitter? How would that change the platform? How might he use Twitter to change, well, everything else?\\n\\nFelix Salmon is the chief economics correspondent at Axios, a co-host of the Slate Money podcast and someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about the economics of attention, the way modern financial markets work and how money impacts the technologies we use. We discuss Musk\\u2019s possible motivations for owning Twitter, how Musk\\u2019s distinct brand of tweeting has reaped financial windfalls, what Musk understands about finance and attention that many others don\\u2019t, why Twitter is so powerful as a storytelling machine, why journalists are turning away from it, what a decentralized Twitter might look like, how Web3 resembles the 1960s \\u201cback to the land\\u201d movement, how Musk could break Twitter \\u2014 but why that might end up saving Twitter \\u2014 and more.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\n\\u201cElon Musk Got Twitter Because He Gets Twitter\\u201d by Ezra Klein\\n\\n"A Crypto Optimist Meets a Crypto Skeptic\\u201d on The Ezra Klein Show\\n\\n\\u201cA Viral Case Against Crypto, Explored\\u201d on The Ezra Klein Show\\n\\n\\u201cThe Way the Senate Melted Down Over Crypto Is Very Revealing\\u201d by Ezra Klein\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nThe Bond King by Mary Childs\\n\\nTypeset in the Future by Dave Addey\\n\\nThe Surprise of Cremona by Edith Templeton\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Jenny Casas, Michelle Harris, Rollin Hu and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones and Carole Sabouraud; mixing by Jeff Geld; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Our executive producer is Irene Noguchi. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.'